USC 84
|Row 3 title = Participants |Row 3 info = 47 |Row 4 title = Debuting countries |Row 4 info = |Row 5 title = Returning countries |Row 5 info = , , , , , , , , |Row 6 title = Withdrawing countries |Row 6 info = , , , , , , , , |Row 7 title = Winner |Row 7 info = Within Temptation "Shot in the dark" |Row 8 title = Timeline |Row 8 info = ◄ Thorshavn 83 Amsterdam 85 ► }} Universong 84 was the 84th staging of the Universong Contest, that was held in Dublin, capital city of Ireland, from January 2nd to 22nd, 2016. This was the second time Ireland hosts USC, providing a record for the longest gap ever between one staging and another for a country, since its last staging was USC 10 in Cork. The Northern European country earned the right to bring back USC to it thanks to the winning of Markus Feehily, with the song "Love is a drug" on the previous edition held in Thorshavn, Faroe Islands. 47 countries took part in this competition, with the debut of Honduras, and the returns of Argentina, Cyprus, Ecuador, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Russia, Switzerland and Vietnam. This edition also marked the sixth anniversary of the Universong Contest. On an exciting voting sequence, where the winner was revealed during the middle to last voting rounds, The Netherlands got its sixth USC title. The band Within Temptation, in its seventh USC participation, got eventually the winning with a total of 178 points for the song "Shot in the dark". Netherlands was also one of the previous favourites to win the contest, and with its winning became the country with most wins in tie with Italy. Hosts Ireland got second place with 164 points, with the song "Speeding cars" by the band Walking on Cars, being this the second time a host earns runner-up position after having won the previous edition (the first was Russia, who won USC 73 in New York with Sergey Lazarev's "7 tsifr", and in USC 74, in home turf it got second place with Nika's "Sing Hallelujah"). The third position went to Italy, represented by lyric trio Il Volo, with the song "L'amore si muove", with 159 points. It is important to remark that the top 3 countries were managed by three historical players that have the three most winnings and the most top-10 places as well. The top 5 was completed by the songs of Austria (represented by Israel's The Young Professionals ft. Anna F. - in her second USC appearance after coming 5th in USC 66) and Norway (represented by Aurora Aksnes). Semifinal 1 The countries from this semifinal plus Sweden must vote here. The other countries can vote, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Host Ireland also voted here. Semifinal 2 The countries from this semifinal plus Vatican City must vote here. The other countries can vote, but their votes will be counted as Rest of the World. Host Ireland also voted here. Grand Final Returning artists Special Awards Bartek Award Best Non-English Award hph01 Award Category:Universong Contest